Lath machine



N R. H. H. HATHAWAY ZAWWAM LATH MACHINE Filed July 30, 1932 5Sheets-Sheet l AM T012 NEE 2M3 411 il Aprrfifi '7 WW H. H. HATHAWAY LATHMACHINE 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed July so; 1932 April] 9 mw. H. H. HATHAWAYLATH MACHINE Filed July 30, 1952 Sheets-Sheet 5 M/E /Tae I W17 AWAY ATTOJBNE 1 [Zimao wooden member to buckle.

Patented Apr. 7, 1936 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 1 Claim.

This invention relates to a method and means for breaking the grain inwooden members.

As set forth in my co-pending application Serial No. 306,137, entitledBuilding construction, filed by me under date of September 15, 1928, ithas been found desirable to break the grain in wooden members such forexample as plaster lath over which a coating of wet plastic material isapplied and the absorption of the moisture from which will normally tendto cause the lath or other It will be evident that this will result indisturbing the plaster supported thereby causing it a crack or breakaway from the lath.

It is the principal object of the present invention to provide a. methodand means of acting upon the wooden members, such for example as woodenlath, to break the grain of the member at suitable intervals throughoutits length without appreciably weakening the member and whereby the lathresulting from the operation will be formed with a plurality of surfaceindentations or perforations which will break the grain of the lath andat the same time produce a surface with which the plastic materialapplied thereto will more satisfactorily bond.

The present invention contemplates provision of a machine formed with anarrangement for stacking material therein, such, for example as lath,and successively feeding the wooden articles from a stack to indentationmeans whereby indentations or perforations may be formed in the lathmembers as they are moved through the machine. It being furthercontemplated to provide the machine with cutters which may be readilyadjusted to meet different requirements, and which are so designed as toinsure that they will not readily clog with chips and dust from thewooden members or the resins of the wood.

The invention is illustrated by way of example in the accompanyingdrawings in which:-

Figure 1 is a view in side elevation showing the complete machine withwhich the present invention is concerned.

Fig. 2 is a view in plan showing the machine.

Fig. 3 is a View in end elevation.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged fragmentary view in elevathm showing an indentinghead.

Fig. 5 is a View in side elevation with parts broken away showing thearrangement of the removable cutter members within the indenture head.

Fig. 6 is a view in perspective showing one form of lath product withwhich the present invention is concerned.

Fig. 7 is an enlarged fragmentary View in plan showing a modified formof the invention as concerned with means for forming grooves in the edgeof a lath.

Fig. 8 is a View in vertical section through the device of Fig. '7 asseen on the line 8-8 of that figure.

Referring more particularly to the drawings 10 indicates a bed plateformed with a plurality of upright staves l I spaced from each other toprovide a stack space within which articles to be treated, such as lath,may be stacked one upon the other, and with their greater width disposedhorizontally. A space I2 is formed in the bed plate l0 and accommodatesan endless conveyor chain I3 which passes over sprockets l4 and at theopposite ends of the bed plate and which chain is formed with flights i6properly "disposed and spaced to insure that the flights will engage theouter end of the lowermost lath in the stack and feed it from beneaththe stack and into the machine.

The indenting machine comprises a table I! which is in substantially thesame horizontal plane with the bed plate [0 and receives the laths asthey are fed longitudinally from the bed plate onto the table. Movinglongitudinally onto the table the lath encounters a yieldable guidemember 18 which tends to hold the lath against a guide rail 19 and thusinsures that the lath will move in a straight longitudinal line throughthe machine. If desired, a plurality of additional guide fingers I8 maybe disposed along the path of travel of the machine. The lath uponleaving the bed plate Ill will move into engagement with an initial pairof rotary indenting heads 2|] and 2|. The machine shown in the drawingsis formed with a plurality of pairs of the indenting heads which areindicated as being spaced equidistantly from each other along the pathof travel of the lath and will be indicated by the same referencenumeral since the description of one of the sets of indenting heads willapproximately describe all of them in their essential details. Theindenting heads here shown are formed by the use of a pair of collars 22and 23 mounted upon the upper mandrel 24 or the lower mandrel 25 as thecase may be. Clamped between these collars is a plurality of fillerdiscs 26 and cutter discs 21. The cutter discs are formed with lateralslots 28 to receive cutting tools 29 which may be removably held inposition. The filler discs 26 are formed on their opposite faces with acircumferential groove 30 to receive laterally projecting shoulders 3|of the cutting tools or bits 29 so that when discs of the compositecutting head are clamped between the collars 22 and 23 by a nut 32 thehead will be ready for operation and by selecting the number of discsand providing them with an appropriate number of bit inserts it ispossible to make a cutting head act upon a lath of any desired width andto properly break the grain in the lath. In the drawings three sets ofcutting heads are shown. The sets of each pair of cutting heads asindicated at 20 the plaster to the lath.

The mandrel 24 of each of the cutting heads 26 is mounted in bearings 33which are carried by radial arms 34. These arms are mounted to oscillateon shafts In this way it will be seen that the cutting heads 39 and 2!of each pair may move in a vertical plane, as swinging about the shafts35, and as attached to the arms 34. The cutting heads 28 are thus heldin position to act upon the upper surface of the lath by compressionsprings 3b which are interposed between lug 32 carried by the radius arm34, and a Washer 33 secured at the outer end of a tension bolt 39 by anut 46. The lower set of cutting heads 2| mounted on their mandrels 25are supported in fixed journal boxes ii since the lower face of the lathas it travels through the machine will rest upon the upper face of thetable ll. The lower mandrels 25 carry gears 32 which mesh withintermediate gears 43 driven from a gear 44 carried upon a central driveshaft 45. This drive shaft extends through suitable bearings and is hereshown as fitted with a drive pulley 46 operated by a driving motor ll.It also may be desirable to positively drive the upper mandrels 24 inwhich event gears 48 are secured to the mandrels 2 2. and mesh withintermediate gears di? and i l previously described. In any event, itwill be understood that the action of the indenting heads positivelydrives the lath through the machine after it has moved onto the table H,and as it is drawn away from the endless conveyor chain it.

In operation of the present invention, wooden lath of the conventionaltype are placed between the staves i i in a vertical stack with thegreater width of the lath extending horizontally. The machine is thendriven from the motor i'i through a belt 5! which passes around a motorpulley 52 and the pulley The flights E6 of the conveyor chain willengage the end of the lowermost lath in the stack and move ithorizontally onto the table I! of the machine. Here its forward end willbe forced between the indenting heads 20 and El and will be properlyguided by the yieldable guide fingers 53. It is to be understood thatthe bits 29 are so spaced both laterally and circumferentially of theseveral heads as to insure that they will indent the lath atpredetermined intervals throughout its length and that the aggregatewidth of the indentations will break the grain of the lath throughoutthe width of the lath although not at the same points, thus insuringthat all of the grain of the lath will be broken at some pointthroughout the width and length of the lath. It is to be understood thatvarious other types of indenting devices might be used if desired, butin any event the lath will be delivered to produce the substantialstructure shown in Fig. 6 of the drawings.

It may be desirable to form the lath with a groove 56 along its oppositeedges, in which event suitable milling cutters 51 may be mounted atpoints along the path of travel of the lath to engage the edges of thelath and form the groove 56 In some instances it may be desirable tointerrupt the groove 56 along the edges of the lath and for that reasonin lieu of each milling cutter 5? and in its place a milling cutter 8Dis mounted upon a vertical mandrel 6i and driven by a motor 62. Thismotor is carried on a bracket 63. A saddle member 64 is mounted upon themandrel shaft and carries rollers 65 and 66 which may ride on the edgeof the lath. The roller 66 is formed with a protrusion 6'! which willswing the cutter away from the edge of the lath each time that theroller makes one revolution. During this swinging movement, the cutterWill be relieved from the edge of the lath and will interrupt the groove56.

It will thus be seen that the device here disclosed provides a verysimple means for repeatedly and automatically treating lath and the likein large quantities to break the grain of the lath and place it incondition where it will not buckle when used under conditions where itis subject to moisture.

It will be evident further that the device is quite simple inconstruction and not liable to get out of order and that its parts maybe readily in terchanged for various purposes if desired.

While I have shown the preferred form of my invention, as now known tome, it will be understood that various changes may be made incombination, construction, and arrangement of parts by those skilled inthe art without departing from the spirit of my invention as claimed.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure byLetters Patent is:

A machine of the class described comprising a horizontal table, a pairof journal members disposed below the table in fixed spaced relation toeach other, a shaft within each journal, a cutter head carried by eachshaft, said cutter head comprising a plurality of circumferentiallyspaced cutting knives disposed in laterally spaced rows, said knivesadapted to penetrate the undersurface of a piece of material movingalong the table, complementary cutter heads disposed above the table, ashaft for each of said cutter heads, rigid bearing members secured tothe top of the table in spaced relation to each other, corresponding innumber to the shafts of the upper cutter heads, a pivot pin carried byeach of said bearing members, a radial arm, one pivoted on each of saidpins, each of said arms receiving a shaft of a cutter head, a springmember, one yieldably acting upon the outer end of each arm and urgingit to its lowermost position, drive means simultaneously driving all ofsaid cutter head shafts to move a piece of work along the table betweensaid shafts and to be acted upon by the cutter heads, an independentlydriven rotary grooving cutter head, means mounting said grooving cutterhead forwardly of the said upper and lower penetrating heads and forrotation upon a vertical axis at one side of the work, said groovingcutter head being bodily movable toward and from the work, and means forautomatically advancing and retracting said grooving cutter head inrelation to an edge of the work for cutting an interrupted groove.

I-IARBOW H. HATHAWAY.

